First City News is providing coverage of the Knox County Sheriff’s race ahead of the upcoming primary election.
Five candidates are running for sheriff, including four Republicans and one Democratic candidate. Because the Republican primary is contested, those candidates participated in on-camera interviews. Those interviews are currently in the post-production process.
The Democratic candidate is unopposed in the primary and will advance to the November ballot. That candidate was sent the same set of questions and provided written us with responses.
All candidates received the questions in advance. Republican responses are presented as direct transcriptions from the in-person interviews. The Democratic response is presented as submitted in writing.
Minimal editing has been made for clarity, and sentence structure.
Candidate responses are presented below.
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: MIKE FISHER
QUESTION: Introduce yourself and explain what led you to run for sheriff.
ANSWER: My name is Mike Fisher, and I am the Republican candidate for Knox County Sheriff, one of them. I started with the department 22 years ago and have been employed there ever since.
It’s kind of a question always asked, why you’re going to run for sheriff. I think that kind of leads more to the fact that it would be easier not to. So, it says a lot for someone that steps in and wants to run for an office and step up in that manner.
The simple thing would be to kind of go off quietly, but there’s an old saying that Edmund Burke had said, that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, to answer your question, mine is for a calling, a higher calling, just like what had put me into law enforcement all those years ago.
QUESTION: How do you define the role of the Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: The sheriff is a very unique position. It’s an elected position, it’s not appointed, and it’s the only constitutionally based law enforcement that we see. Knox County is very unique in that it’s a very old sheriff’s department, 1790, as you see on our patches when we wear it.
It’s very important to remember that the sheriff’s duties are, by statute, maintaining the jail, court security, paper service, and also answering calls and those type of things on the road. So it’s a very important job.
You’re looking at a budget of just over $8 million a year. That’s dealing with a facility that has just been added on to, which will max out at about 356 beds, over 70 employees there at the sheriff’s office. So, we are the largest employer as far as staff goes.
So there are a lot of encompassing matters that go with being sheriff, a lot of important stuff there.
QUESTION: What are two top priorities if elected?
ANSWER: I’m very interested in looking at programs. We have inmates that come in and they are already serving in different programs like the LAM program and these type of things.
I would like to work on adding skills, work skills, and labor skills to some of the inmates while they’re in there so they can achieve some understanding, some certifications that will help them once they get out of the jail and back into society and work in that area.
Second, I’d like to go back to some more of our community-based programs that I’ve started over the years, that I’ve worked with, civilian firearms programs and these types of things. Another one that is kind of close to my heart is social media.
You hear a lot of ads and things coming from the state level talking about kids being bullied and basically forced to do things. We need to really work on this because social media is such a huge platform. We see it on national news right now. There’s a large lawsuit going on with this.
It’s something that needs to be addressed, something that we need to hone in on to help these kids get away from some of those stresses and struggles that go on with it.
QUESTION: How would you approach managing the department’s budget and resources?
ANSWER: Currently I am a major in the department. I work with the sheriff that’s currently in office and have for the last several years on the budget.
We see things fluctuate within that budget, such as meals, feeding the inmates, clothing, equipment, of course. Obviously, the jail is an enormous building, so there is a lot of maintenance that goes on there.
So, finding ways to cut those corners and help work with other local elected officials, such as the council, on how to best set our budget and use that, and work with each other to have a good functioning system.
QUESTION: How will you maintain transparency and public trust in the department?
ANSWER: Public trust and transparency is something that I do believe in. I think that we confuse that sometimes, and people confuse that, going back to that social media thing, that anything that we see or read on the internet has to be true.
For us, I think it’s important by having those programs that I talked about before, like the civilian firearms program and even something called a civilian academy, which allows the public to come in and do some scenario-based training and some training with us, to show them the type of things that law enforcement officers deal with and lets them see firsthand.
So, transparency is important, but I believe it needs to be real transparency.
QUESTION: Why are you the right choice for Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: I’m the right choice. I’ve been doing this job, like I said, for 22 years. So, in doing that, I’ve maintained supervisory roles over many positions.
I was a detective for ten years. I’m currently the supervisor of the detective unit. I’m currently the supervisor over the SROs, or what you guys would know to be school resource officers. These are deputies that are assigned to the schools, and I’ve been a part of that since we started that here in the county.
I’ve proven leadership here, being within the department and being in these positions, and working hard cases, working cases that nobody else wants to really be a part of.
So, it sets me in there to be able to shoulder the weight of those things and be able to lead the men and women of our department into the future.
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REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: JOHN FULLER
QUESTION: Introduce yourself and explain what led you to run for sheriff.
ANSWER: Hi, my name is John Fuller. I’m currently the Chief Deputy of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. I live in Bicknell with my wife of 27 years, Stephanie, and our three children, Bradley, Sadie, and Tyler Fuller.
My journey to become sheriff is different than my opponents. Growing up, I never even thought about being a police officer. When I graduated high school, I went to work for a local contractor. About ten years later, I started my own construction company, building and remodeling homes here in Knox County.
After the Twin Towers attacks on 9/11, I, like many citizens, found myself wanting to give back to the community. I saw an ad in the local paper that the Knox County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Unit was taking applications. So, I applied and I was accepted. I just loved the job. It was great.
In 2007, there was a jail officer position open. I applied and was accepted. In 2008, I was promoted to road deputy. I worked there for the next eight years and then I was promoted to captain. After that promotion, I realized I wanted to go farther in law enforcement to focus on my leadership role.
I applied for college, and on my days off and weekends, I went back to college, where I obtained a master’s degree in Criminal Justice and Human Services. In 2017, I was promoted to major, and in 2021, I was promoted to Chief Deputy, the position I currently hold.
QUESTION: How do you define the role of the Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: The sheriff is the highest law enforcement officer in the county. He’s elected by the citizens of Knox County, but first and foremost, he’s a public servant.
He must keep the citizens of Knox County first. He’s a leader and a businessman. He is compassionate and caring, but yet firm and fair. And the law says the most important role of the sheriff is to maintain the jail and the courthouse security. So, knowing how these operations work is a must.
QUESTION: What are two top priorities if elected?
ANSWER: My first priority would be to continue the progress we’ve had over the last four years. I will continue to hire, train, and equip the best deputies and jail officers that we can.
As Chief Deputy, I’ve written policy and procedure to maintain clear direction on the day-to-day activities of the Sheriff’s Office. For the first time in history, we now have a hiring process that’s merit board approved and locked in, so a sheriff coming in can’t just hire his friends or whoever he wants to. This also helps to make sure that Knox County gets the best deputies available.
Secondly, I want to see mental health and drug addiction addressed in the jail. We feel drug offenders cost our county taxpayers a lot of money. If we can get them the help they need while they’re in jail, we can keep them from re-offending, thus saving the taxpayer money.
We have LAM, or Life After Meth, and we have several local pastors come in and speak with our inmates. But I want to go further with that. I want to work with our current medical provider and have them bring in their psychiatric care providers to work with our inmates directly. I also want to use more peer recovery programs like RISE to help make this happen.
QUESTION: How would you approach managing the department’s budget and resources?
ANSWER: Each year, the sheriff must prepare the Sheriff’s Office budget. I’ve helped the sheriff in the last four years prepare the budget. I know it’s around $8 million a year.
I manage purchases and inventory control for the department, so being fiscally responsible is a must. In the last two years, we’ve kept the two most expensive items, food and medical care for the inmates, under control.
We’ve done this by reaching out to vendors and finding vendors that will provide the same or better services for less money. This saves the taxpayer money. The Sheriff’s Office is also in better shape than most county offices because we are the only office that actually produces income for the county.
Last year, we brought in over $1.2 million by housing inmates for outside agencies.
QUESTION: How will you maintain transparency and public trust in the department?
ANSWER: I am currently the public information officer for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. I write the press releases and I manage our social media accounts.
As your next sheriff, I will continue to release information to the public in a quick, reasonable, and responsible manner as the law allows. My door will always be open to anyone. They can come in and talk to me about anything. I want to ensure public trust in myself and the office.
QUESTION: Why are you the right choice for Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: With my education and real-world experience, and my over 20 years of law enforcement experience right here in Knox County at the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, I believe I am the right choice for your next Knox County Sheriff.
I’m a devoted family man, and I’ve lived and worked in Knox County my entire adult life. Being Chief Deputy, I already know what it takes to be the sheriff, so I don’t have to spend time learning the job. I can start on day one continuing the progress this administration has made, making Knox County a safe place to live.
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REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: DAN SHORT
QUESTION: Introduce yourself and explain what led you to run for sheriff.
ANSWER: My name is Dan Short. I was born and raised here in Knox County. I graduated from Lincoln High School back in 1995. Shortly after I graduated, I began my military career, serving my country.
That was about 21.5 years combined between the U.S. Marine Corps and the Army National Guard. Eight years in the Marine Corps was infantry. Thirteen and a half years in the Army National Guard was as a military police officer.
The Army National Guard time also ran concurrent with my civilian law enforcement career, which is currently entering its 19th year. The reason I was led to run for sheriff is I believe the community wants a sheriff that is going to be dedicated to the community and be open to listening to the community.
I believe I can bring my experiences from a former agency and experience as a community police officer here to show Knox County what you can do with a community-oriented policing program that we haven’t seen yet.
QUESTION: How do you define the role of the Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: So I would define my role as sheriff primarily as the elected head of law enforcement here in Knox County. You have several responsibilities; one of course is taking care of the money for the jail.
The other is making sure our courthouses are properly secured, our schools are properly protected, and making sure that the jail is running in as efficient a manner as possible, in addition to making sure that our towns and unincorporated areas of the county are properly patrolled and protected.
QUESTION: What are two top priorities if elected?
ANSWER: I mentioned earlier the community policing program. What that basically means is having an open door to the community, listening to their cares and concerns, not only listening to the cares and concerns, but taking action on them, and then getting back to the community on the results of those actions.
Oftentimes, also a piece that we’re missing sometimes is our transparency with the community, getting information out to the community as quickly as possible, which can include body camera footage if necessary, in as timely a manner as possible, without, of course, interfering with the investigations.
The second priority would be a reorganization of the personnel we currently have, redistributing some of the personnel that we have to better distribute our supervisors and deputies across the road patrol, day and night.
This would increase public safety and decrease our response times, and overall would just be a benefit to the county as a whole.
QUESTION: How would you approach managing the department’s budget and resources?
ANSWER: A big part of the sheriff’s responsibility, of course, is the budget. First priority of business, should I be elected and take office, would be sitting down and looking over the books, just taking a look at all the programs that we have in place currently, to see if there’s anything better we can do to save money.
If it’s currently the best, then there’s no need to change it. A big part of that is listening to our staff, because a lot of times the best ideas come from the bottom up, not always top down.
Another big piece of the budget that oftentimes gets overlooked, I think, is that a vast majority of the money goes to pay and benefits for our personnel. Those are our most valuable assets at the sheriff’s office.
So, by taking a look and moving people around with smart staffing that’s fiscally responsible, and then creating an environment where they’re well trained—anybody would want to have them—but yet you treat them so well they don’t want to leave, fiscally that saves us money.
Not only in the cost of replacing them because of employee turnover rates, but the cost of a loss of experience. And experience is one of those things you just can’t go out and buy. It takes time to develop and nurture. So, we want to make sure we take care of our people. In the long run, it saves us money.
QUESTION: How will you maintain transparency and public trust in the department?
ANSWER: All that ties back to the beginning statement, which was community policing. A big part of it a lot of folks are familiar with, and I’ve heard the term “Coffee with the Cops.” I think we should probably rename it something like “Donuts with the Deputies” or something fun.
But in all seriousness, it’s getting out in the community, listening to the cares and concerns, addressing those cares and concerns, and then going back to the members of the community and letting them know this is what we did, this is how we took care of it.
If it continues, we can readdress it. And then it also goes back to the public transparency, making sure we get information and body camera footage, if it’s needed, released in a timely manner without interfering with our investigations.
QUESTION: Why are you the right choice for Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: I believe the next sheriff, I believe any sheriff, should have a well-rounded and diversified resume, not only in law enforcement but in personnel management, in addition to documented years of experience that include calm and cool decision-making in adverse situations. And I offer both.
And I also believe the next sheriff should have an eye toward the future, not be satisfied with doing things the way they’ve always been done, but be willing to make changes to improve our department overall, with the simple goal of making or keeping Knox County the wonderful place it is to live and work and raise a family.
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REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: PAUL JONES
QUESTION: Introduce yourself and explain what led you to run for sheriff.
ANSWER: My name is Paul Jones. I’ve been in law enforcement since the year 2000.
I was a graduate of Vincennes University in 1999 with an associate degree in Law Enforcement. I became a patrolman in the city of Bicknell for eight years, and I was also a chief of police for eight years, and then went to Knox County and have been with them for 11 years.
QUESTION: How do you define the role of the Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: A public servant, being in the community a lot and keeping the peace. Just trying to keep peace with the public and maintaining the jail and getting out in the community and making sure we have good officers in our county schools, making sure the jail management process goes right.
QUESTION: What are two top priorities if elected?
ANSWER: With the technology, trying to keep up with all the technology in the field.
With myself coming in with the years of experience, coming off of a typewriter era into computers—from body cameras to non-lethal and lethal weapons—and making sure the guys are trained well in those areas to use the weapons and the technology.
QUESTION: How would you approach managing the department’s budget and resources?
ANSWER: I’ve worked with different budgets when I was a chief of police, and keeping good community relations with the county council, and working with the commissioners in the field with that, and trying to see where we need the money the most in that area.
QUESTION: How will you maintain transparency and public trust in the department?
ANSWER: Just trying to get out in the community a lot, be seen, make sure my deputies are seen, a lot of officer and public communication, making sure that’s all still good.
Making sure that they see us as the good guys at times, not just there for the bad things, and trying to help the community out that way, making sure we’re in different functions in the county.
And for the most part, keeping everybody at peace from all the engagements and going in the whole county, trying to keep everything peaceful and safe.
QUESTION: Why are you the right choice for Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: Just my years of experience of law enforcement, being in the community. I grew up here, I was born and raised here, and I’ve been out in the community and talking to people and just trying to keep peace and make sure everybody’s safe.
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DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: BRIAN HAGEN
QUESTION: Introduce yourself and explain what led you to run for sheriff.
ANSWER: I am Brian Hagen, a lifetime resident of Knox County, Indiana, except the time I volunteered for military service in the U.S. Army as a soldier and military policeman overseas, and I have dedicated my life to serving our community, from working as a Red Cross certified lifeguard and water safety instructor at Bicknell Swimland as a young man, to my over 39 years of experience as a professional law enforcement officer for the Vincennes City Police Department, serving the Vincennes community.
I am currently working 12-hour shifts as a corrections officer with Knox County Community Corrections. I chose to run for Indiana Knox County Sheriff to give the voters in our community a choice for a knowledgeable, experienced, professional law enforcement officer to serve their community.
QUESTION: How do you define the role of the Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: The role of the county is defined in the Indiana Constitution, but it is the local elected sheriff that determines how he will utilize the staff and resources of the office efficiently from the funds provided by the County Council.
As for me, if elected Knox County Sheriff, I will ensure all citizens under my jurisdiction will be treated fairly with the professional staff of KCSD under Indiana law and Knox County ordinances. I believe in the words “To Protect & Serve,” and I do not take the oath lightly.
Under my leadership, with the resources available, I would ensure all calls would be responded to in a timely manner and appropriate documentation filed with the department. The Sheriff’s Department would work with all other professional enforcement agencies and the courts to serve our community to ensure the “rule of law” and our county judges’ court orders are followed. The sheriff also has to maintain the safety of our community by ensuring that incarcerated offenders are kept incarcerated until their sentence is served.
QUESTION: What are two top priorities if elected?
ANSWER: There are many priorities as the elected sheriff, but since you asked for only two, I will elaborate on two basics. If elected Indiana Knox County Sheriff, I would utilize the resources of the KCSD to ensure that all staff members are properly trained and provided with the necessary tools to do their job. If you don’t provide your staff with equipment and training to do their job, then they can’t do their job properly.
With all my life and law enforcement experience, I don’t know everything. I strive to learn new knowledge and better ways to complete tasks. It is the Knox County employees that do the job every day serving our community that have knowledge and experience in getting the job done right. I would make it a priority to listen to the employees’ input.
It is easy to give orders, but when time and circumstances permit, I want to hear from those that work in their area of expertise to help make the KCSD work more efficiently for employees and to better serve our citizens. I would like to reward those that do the job efficiently, not based on politics.
QUESTION: How would you approach managing the department’s budget and resources?
ANSWER: It is the elected Knox County Council that determines the yearly funds that will be available to the Sheriff’s Department upon the elected sheriff’s request. The 2026 budget is already set, and the 2027 sheriff’s budget will be determined this year by the current elected sheriff.
If elected Indiana Knox County Sheriff in November 2026, I will have to work under the previous elected sheriff’s budget in 2027 before I can submit a sheriff’s budget for 2028.
I have experience in dealing with a part of a county budget, as I was the elected Indiana Knox County Coroner from 2015 to 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis. I had to work with what was appropriated, and funds that were not appropriated, I paid for myself.
QUESTION: How will you maintain transparency and public trust in the department?
ANSWER: Indiana law, Access to Public Records Act (APRA), found in Indiana Code IC 5-14-3, determines what information may be released to the public. The public has the right to information involving the Sheriff’s Department as long as it does not jeopardize the investigation or the safety of the public.
I know this from my years of experience as a law enforcement officer and officer in charge on the Vincennes Police Department, as well as serving as the elected Knox County Coroner from 2015 to 2020, when I informed the public of public information.
Information will be released as soon as possible after facts are gathered. The information would be released to the news media and accessible to the public.
QUESTION: Why are you the right choice for Knox County Sheriff?
ANSWER: I am the best choice for the elected position as Indiana Knox County Sheriff because of my experience, knowledge, and professionalism.
I have over 39 years of experience and training as an Indiana state certified law enforcement officer working for and with our community to improve the community.
I have over 20 years of experience and training as a deputy coroner and elected Knox County Coroner from 2015 to 2020, with an Indiana state certification as a medicolegal death investigator. I ran the elected office as a professional organization, not based on politics. There were several certified and qualified MDIs in my office that were kept as deputies because of their qualifications, not their politics.
I am the best candidate for the job, but time will tell with the registered voters in Knox County making the final decision. As a U.S.A. veteran, I wish more citizens would take the time to register and vote, and I am hopeful more will vote, especially with all that is going on nationally, state, and local.
What makes me different from other candidates? I don’t do the minimum. I do it right the first time with resources available, not because I am wonderful, but because it is the right thing to do and I am accountable for myself.
Time will tell what our future holds.
